C) In the Rays’ defense, they aren’t actually starting the game at 5:40… it’s 6:40 there. They actually start all of their home weeknight games at 6:40 until June, in order to encourage more families to bring their kids to games on school nights. They have real attendance issues down there and I don’t blame them for trying to remove any possible reasons people might have NOT to attend games.

B) I don’t have an issue with Butera catching, but I kind of expected to see Mauer DH’ing. Something smells bad here… I’m wondering if, as has happened a few times in the past, there’s something more going on with Mauer than anyone is talking about. I understand privacy laws and desires not to go public about some health-related issues, but on the other hand, IF you’re Mauer or the Twins and you choose not to share any information about what’s going on, you really have to expect there to be heightened speculation… especially when the guy has frankly sucked so far this season.

A) It sounds like I should be thankful for the 50 degree temps down here tonight. It’s breezy but I blew off going to Kernels games the last two nights because I was tired, so I feel compelled to brave the elements and go out to the ballpark tonight.

Finally, this from the St Pete Times:

New giveaway of the day

… the Rays will give away Sam Fuld Superhero Capes on May 29 to the first 10,000 kids 14 and under, replacing the canceled Manny Ramirez bobblehead giveaway. Fuld was flattered, saying it was the first such promotion in his honor. “I was maybe close to getting an Iowa Cub T-shirt giveaway (with the Cubs Triple-A team), but I didn’t even make the cut there,” he said.